Victorians turn to bartering fresh produce with friends to manage cost of living pressures

The rising cost of living means some Victorians are exchanging goods and services with friends, while food relief charities are struggling to keep up with demand.

Sophia Hayes and daughter Lindsay, 3, in their garden where they grow their own vegetables. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A Ballarat mother has cut her hot water use and taken to exchanging goods and services with friends to cope with the rising cost of living.

Social worker Sophia Hayes, 34, and partner Sam Beulk, 32, have been struggling to maintain a decent quality of life for their two young daughters, Nola, 5, and Lindsay, 3.

In an effort to cut costs, Ms Hayes has started growing her own vegetables and running chooks in her yard.

To further reduce expenditure, she is now trading her produce around town for other items she needs.

Sophia Hayes and daughter Nola, 5. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Ms Hayes has started trading her produce with friends. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“One of my friends has a bakery and she gives me her day-old bread, which she cannot sell but is perfectly fine to consume in exchange for vegetables and eggs from me,” Ms Hayes said.

“We have been buying only the bare minimum and growing or making everything else to save and live well on our budget.

“There are ways to save little by little – we do not use hot water for washing hands or small chores and we have a ‘one light per person in the house’ rule, which saves a lot of energy.

“Cooking everything from scratch, we usually manage to use everything with next to no spare.”

She has also taken to carpooling with colleagues to reduce travel costs.

Surging demand for food relief charities

The demand for free food has doubled in the past month, according to one of the country’s biggest hunger relief charities.

Half of all those approaching Foodbank to feed themselves and their families have, worryingly, never sought help from a charity in their lives.

But as charities struggle to supply food to increasing numbers of people, they are also battling rising supply costs.

Data collected by Foodbank Victoria shows the outfit is now feeding 50,000 people every day.

The dramatic increase in the number of people seeking food relief from Foodbank’s more than 450 partners has left them scrambling.

Foodbank Victoria’s demand has doubled in the past month. Picture: David Crosling

Some food distribution centres have reported an increase in service from 15–20 families a day to more than 50.

Others are being visited by more than 250 families every day and are unable to keep up with demand.

Foodbank Victoria chief executive Dave McNamara said many of the people who were now seeking support from Foodbank had previous donated to the charity and the sudden surge in demand was driven by increasing cost of living.

“The cost of living crisis is really a new pandemic for us,” Mr McNamara said.

The rising cost of living has led to more people seeking help from charities. Picture: David Crosling

“Food is the first thing people can compromise on with respect to balancing rent, power bills, petrol and other demands placed on stagnant wages.”

He said the rising cost of fruit and vegetables was also making the task of supplying food more difficult.

“In the last financial year, we’ve seen wholesale prices on fresh fruit and vegetables increase by around 100% across the board and, in some cases, like lettuce, four to five times the usual price,” Mr McNamara said.

Empower Australia, which operates five food relief centres across Melbourne, said it had recently experienced a 30 per cent increase in clients.

Chief executive Neil Smith said rising supply costs had “amplified” the battle to feed those in need.

“Foodbank generously supplied food for free for a period in 2021 but had to start charging again from the start of this year in order to maintain sustainability and keep up with increasing food prices,” Mr Smith said.

“This will require nearly $60,000 in additional funding per year merely to maintain our regular supply from one partner.

“Other partners and suppliers have also been forced to increase prices as the cost of food has risen by 15–30% across the board.”

“Despite the challenges, we remain hopeful,” he said.

Mr Smith said Empower Australia had already expanded its services during the height of the Covid pandemic.

Foodbank also recently announced that it would open two new drive-through services at Epping and Dandenong South to deal with demand.